.: Catch up and Callings

.: Catch up and Callings: Hello fall!  WOW I can't believe we are here again!  I will not complain however because as much as I love summer I also love fall!!  It ha...

Catch up and Callings

Hello fall!  WOW I can't believe we are here again!  I will not complain however because as much as I love summer I also love fall!!  It has been a busy summer (hence no blogging lately) so I will give you all a brief about my abouts lately!  So "Pretty Pretty" was such an amazing night!  God did big things and as soon as I am able to get more pictures I will post them on my blog for you all to see!  I cut about 7 ladies hair (we had around 25 other stylists) and they all touched my heart in one way or more!  Even the ones that didn't have much to say, just the smile at the end of there haircut was enough to warm my heart!  Doing this event got us all excited to keep  moving forward and so we are in the works now for holding an event Dec. 1st!  Not the same event but leaning toward giving these woman and children winter wear!  So as we plan I will let you know what we will be up to and how you can get involved!  "Pretty Pretty"  will also become an annual event! 

My heart for this fall season is to focus on others! I plan on doing things differently from this point on when it comes to holidays and things! We plan to spend our Thanksgiving serving less fortunate people...making them a meal and eating with them. I really feel its so important to expose my kids to what life is like for many people even little ones just like them. So instead of making the traditional turkey dinner at home we will make it at the shelter we choose and serve! I know I am not rich with wealth but I am  rich with blessings from God and I want to share the riches I can with others! I have been thinking all the things in store in this life we have and how much we can do if we try and lead the life God has created us to live! I mean in God's eyes I probably only have 15 minutes on this earth and the rest of eternity with him in heaven so ultimately I want to make him proud for this short time I do have to be his hands and feet. What an amazing thing! 

Jade, I and the kids went to an apple orchard in Lakeville last weekend and had a blast!  We met some friends of ours there and enjoyed delicious honey crips and a hay ride!  We also came home with a bag full of apples the kiddos picked ($25 dollars worth)  I left there thinking "WHAT?  We just spent 25 bucks on apples?"  But in my defense they were super delicious and it was fun for the kiddies to pick them!  Tayten is back in school!  1st Grade already!  We got a call a week before school started from a school we have been trying to get him into since Kindergarten and they let us know they had an opening for him!  We decided to move him so he is now at 7 Hills Academy in Bloomington!  So far he loves it and actually enjoys wearing his uniform!  I am so excited to watch him learn and grow in school!  I can't believe they already have homework!  So its a good thing its 1st grade cause I have to practice for when he gets older!  I am a little nervous I won't have a clue how to help him!!!  Bentley and Harper are home with Mamma all day!  We are little goers though!  We are always doing something and having play dates with our friends!  Jade always tells me its not fair I get to hang out with my girls and there kids everyday while he works!  I LOVE having families to do life with!  Bentley will start pre-school next year so I am trying to enjoy all our time before the running begins!  Harper is really coming out of her shell......wow is this mom in trouble.  She is a little spitfire!  Stubborn and strong willed must run in our blood cause man she is only 1.   I thought that was suppose to be an easy age?!  Guess again!  I don't think you can get much cuter then her though!  Gorgeous little thing and I am not biased at all!  I am hoping we can still get a weekend of camping in before it gets to late in fall but we will have to see.  Jade is busy at work and we will take it as we get it!  Slow season is right around the corner so I feel like we kinda need to be squirrels and store all our nuts for winter!  Well here are some pics of our end of summer and start of fall!  Love and Blessings!

 

 Fun at the Apple Orchard

 Family Pic!

 Jade and celebrated 6 yrs of marriage on Aug 19th!

 The great Minnesota get together!

 Mommy, Auntie, and Harps!  "The girls" at the fair

 Harper Lynn is getting so big

 Grandpa with the Grands!

 Tayten's big day of 1st grade

 1st day at new school!  "Good luck Brother!"

Walking leads to face planting in the dirt!

BLISS

 5K Color Run with my Girl Rachel Johnston!  We did it!

Pretty Pretty just 7 short days away!

Many of you who keep up with my few and far between blogging lately have read about the upcoming event I am so proud to be part of called "Pretty Pretty".  I am so excited and a little nervous now that is just a week from tomorrow!  August 24th will be an amazing day not only for me but many many amazing woman who will be shown the love of Christ with a night of beauty!  A friend and I recently went all over Minneapolis (some areas I have never seen in my 10 years of living here) to drop off all our posters and invites to Pretty Pretty.  These places included many homeless shelters, Emergency Food Shelf's, and battered woman's shelters.  I never in my life saw all the homelessness and poverty.  All I could think of was this is only 15 minutes away from my home, there all so many kids, so many people, how, and why?  My heart was so saddened and I immediately felt changed.  Annie who was with me made a very good point as we drove away from our final shelter...she said "Erica the people who work in and for these shelters are the hands and feet of Jesus, they do this day in and day out."  I think we both teared up for a moment and it made this event we are part of much bigger.  For one day these woman and children get to do what a lot of people do just as a day to day thing, get there hair cut, get some new clothes, get a message, get a manicure, eat some pizza, put on some makeup, and maybe talk to someone who cares.  For a moment in there lives they get to feel beautiful, loved, respected, special, and taken care of.  For many it will be the 1st time in a long time or maybe the 1st time ever.  Bottom line we need prayer not only for this event but for where these woman and children go after they walk out the doors.  I wish I could give them all a home or a job or get them away from the touch situation they are in.  A night to forget about it, a night to be loved, a night to be pampered, and for the kids a night to eat a meal, maybe the 1st in days.  I believe God has BIG things in store for August 24th 2012.  If you find yourself wanting to do something make a difference come join us in doing something for the woman and children in OUR community who need us.  I can't wait to share my experience with all of my blog followers!  I also really wanted to share all the amazing things people have already done to be part of Pretty Pretty!

Cub Foods gave a 20.00 gift card, Salon ROX gave a free haircut and color certificate, Papa Johns gave us large cheese pizzas at employee discounted price, Lunds and Byerleys gave us 500 paper bags (.25 cents a bag) and 10 cases of water, Sam's Club gave 200 free cupcakes, Panera Bread gave a certificate that will bless someone with bagels and cheese once a month for a year, and so many people have donated clothes, money, jewelry, handbags, shoes, pantry items, makeup, and things we need to make this event possible!  AWESOMENESS!  If you have anything to offer or want to be part of this event or have questions email ambercvc@gmail.com or contact Amber Linz at 612-210-8564.  Its almost here please keep this event in your thoughts and prayers!  Love and Blessings!

Let the FUN begin!

So now that August has creeped up on us and summer will soon come to a close we are getting ready for a fun, crazy, and maybe realxing??? time at Kamp Dels in Waterville, MN!  Jade and I have taken the kids every year now for the past 3 years!  This year however the Linz family of 4 and the Madden family of 6 will be joining our Erhart party of 5!  We are so excited and busy getting everything we need for a memorable camping trip with good friends!  Here are some of our past "Kamp Dels"  pictures!  Enjoy!  Can't wait to blog about our camping experience!  With 5 toddlers 2 babies and a 7 yr. old I am sure we will have more then enough stories to share!  Love and Blessings!

on the way home!!!!

It clicked!

So I used to write daily in a journal for many many years.  I was so passionate about writing and then "life happened" and I kinda left all of that behind.  Not intentionally but the time was put in different areas and I really just simply forgot about what I LOVED doing for a long time.  Anyway shoulda woulda coulda right?!  So that all brings me to today...I was downstairs looking for a folder I could use for all of my "Pretty Pretty" event notes and I came across my leather journal.  I started reading it and I couldn't put the thing down.  WOW I not only realized how messed up I used to be but I also realized it all brought me to where I am!  I came across this poem I wrote.....


Could I be Loved?
Not for who I am looked to be
but for who I am
for my thoughts, my wishes
my dreams, successes, failures?
My complaints my happiness
my fears and my comforts?
Could I be loved
not for the touch
but for the truth
my passions, my past?
Can someone love my voice, my opinion,
my obsessions...
Who could mold such a big thing together
the puzzle of forever?
Is there a piece for me?
Sometimes puzzles can't be completed
simply because of the missing piece.
If somehow throws everything off
yet its still noticeable.

Erica Erhart 10-28-03

I thought this poem said a lot and its funny how in almost 9 years the answer has been there all along.  God has always loved me for me.  He created me!  He knows every thing about me and all the tiny details simply because that's how he wanted to make me!  I felt so empty all those years and reading my journal made me realize I was lost and now found!  Anyway it was an "aha" moment!  I love to love and to be loved!  Even when I wasn't feeling loved God never left my side what an awesome thing right?!  This made me so much more excited about the event I get to be part of on Aug 24th called "Pretty Pretty" an outreach in the community to woman who are homeless, battered, jobless, single moms, and any woman who just is in a tough situation right now and we are going to give them a night of beauty and pampering.  We will be giving them haircuts, massage, painting nails, makeup, and they will each get to pick out an entire outfit in the "boutique".  We will also be giving them paper products such as toilet paper, paper towels, tampons, and pads (things you don't receive while you are on food stamps and wick).  We get to love these woman and make them feel beautiful just as God made them.  We get to be the hands and feet of our Jesus Christ!  If you want to help or get involved we need you!  Anyway I really felt in my heart I needed to share!  Love and Blessings!

PS.  Here are a few pics to what we Erhart's have been up too this summer!

 zoo

Tayten Michael Erhart 7 REALLY?!

Once a ham always a ham

Life of the party...DUH!!

My big boy!

                                        

You were almost 4 in this picture and such a little stud!

Sharing your love now with a brother!

Funny little guy!

Sharing more love with a sister!  You could not wait to have a sister!

Last year on your 6th Bday....This feels like yesterday!!  Love you!

OK so this is a really hard thing for me to digest!  I have a 7 year old!  I am not sure if its a good thing or what but I feel to young to have a 7 year old!  So in 7 years my big boy has learned to roll over, crawl, walk, run, jump, ride a bike (with no training wheels), write, color (he is a little artist no joke), read (yes ready!!), and talk me ear off sometimes a little to sassy as well, hug, kiss, throw fits, love, sing, dance, and the list goes on and on and on!  What a bright light he has been in our lives!  When I was pregnant with Tayten I thought I would never be able to be a mom and I was so scared but the truth is he taught me how to love like I have never loved and being a mom was so natural and easy. (the feeling not always the job)  The truth is between Tayten and God they saved me from what could have been a life of self destruction.  I had a small being I promised to care and love for!  It has not always been easy and I know its not always going to be but wow  having God on our team and the center of our lives has surely changed everything!  Tayten is truly a masterpiece God created and I am one special Momma that was so blessed with him!  He is one stubborn, bull headed, strong willed little boy but I pray that God uses that in his favor!  So Tayten someday when you read this I want you to know how much we love you and how much you have taught me!  You are my first born and my first of a lot of 1st's!  I never knew a love so deep and so strong.....you amaze me in so many ways and watching you grow up into such a big kid has been so incredible!  I love to just stare at you and think of you as a little chubby baby and how you've turned into such a handsome little boy.  You are soooooooo funny and although I don't always laugh at your butt jokes I will try to find them more funny instead of non acceptable because you are a boy and farts, butts, and poop I guess is the funniest thing in the world but please do not talk about that stuff at school or church or parents will not let you hang out with there kids ....JK its really not that bad!  I want you to know that even when I am upset with you and I have to discipline you its really out of love and someday a long long time from now you will understand!  It took me 21 years and you to understand that statement  my parents always said but better then never!  I pray everyday for you and for me to shape you as best as I can that you will grow into exactly what God made you for!  You are a joy Tayten and I am so lucky to call you son!  As far as bog brother goes you are number 1!  Both your sister and your brother look at you like your a rock star!  They watch your every move and love you so much!  So thanks son for an amazing 7 years and many more to come!  Like I always say when you ask me "Mom who so you love most?"  And I reply, "I love you all the same, but I have loved you the longest."  You love that you little stinker!

Love,
Mom

Let Freedom Ring!

The boys have matching flag shirts today ...So cute!

Well about 6 months ago I took off this week of work (well Thursday and Friday) and I figured we would be camping somewhere and on the lake basking our bodies in the sun but turns out we are home, Jade is working and the heat index just so happens to be 120 today!  Oh boy was  my 4th of July not what I thought it would be!  However I am so happy to spend the day with my little patriotic kids (we are all dressed in red, white, and blue)  We are heading to the 4th of July parade in Richfield and hopefully we will survive the heat and crabby meltdowns!  Tonight we will attempt to Grill out with some friends!  I am going to make a fruit pizza (flag style of course!)  and maybe we will be up late enough to watch some fireworks!  I am so dang proud to be an American!  How lucky we are to live in a country with clean water, food, and shelter.  Some are not so fortunate (even in our country) .  Happy 4th of July to everyone!  I have so many memories on this day!  Running around at Van Hook with all my family and friends!  Lakin it all day and then pot luck style at night!  Our family is always the family to get noise complaints from fireworks!  Oh how I will miss you all tonight at Van Hook!  Light some crackers for us tonight!  We are free, we are loved by Jesus, and we live in a country who is strong and proud.  Thanks to all who serve and protect!  LET FREEDOM RING BABY!  Love and Blessings!

Harper is her 4th ourfit and getting into the puppies food.....no no Harper!